Hello, I am Praetor and I am running for Delegate of The North Pacific. I believe one of the most important characteristics for a Delegate to have is imagination. The ability to take the region in directions it has not gone before and to improve the community.
Over a year ago, I mentioned the potential for cards to be used in government. Now, over the past few months, I have served as the first Guildmaster of The North Pacific Cards Guild, an innovation which has brought dozens of new citizens to the region. I believe that I have the ability to create impactful changes throughout the community. I have also served in a variety of positions (most notably Minister of Foreign Affairs) and helped out in many of the Ministries.
I previously stated a lack of intention of running for positions; however, my real life circumstances have changed, like many of you undoubtedly have, travel plans have been canceled, and as such I am putting my name forward for leading our community.
Before I get into specific areas of improvement, I would like to address the administration as a whole and talk about transparency.
I intend to continue the tradition of meritocracy in our democracy. I fully intend to find the best candidate for each Minister position. To do so, I will openly accept applications. We have a large community, I unfortunately do not have the pleasure of knowing everyone. Not saying up front how I intend to select Ministers can also disadvantage newer members who may not be confident enough to approach the Delegate to ask for a position. This will ensure we have the best talent possible leading the Ministry.
I have been concerned in the past that applications to the Executive Staff are not being processed quickly enough. This is an important method of engaging new players and retaining them. As such, we will have all applications accepted within three days of being made.
Lastly, I fully intend to promote the forum for the Executive. We have moved away from the forum in terms of activity; I plan to move back through having more discussions from Cabinet on the forums and discussions for implementation of projects. The forum is the core part of our region.
On transparency, there is a concerning issue of despite the Court mandating release of government logs from Discord, they have not all been released yet. I commend McMasterdonia for getting the ball rolling on releasing the logs. I will ensure that all of the logs are released appropriately by the end of my term.
As Delegate, I will provide an update every week to the region on the progress of the government: what have we accomplished, what are we planning to do, and what did we fail to do. I hope to have the citizenry as informed as possible as I can of the doings of the Executive. Ministers will continue to post monthly updates on their responsibility.
Now, what I intend to do in specific areas of the government—I have attempted to keep it short.
Over a year ago, when I first publicly proposed the government getting involved in trading cards, there were those who questioned whether what was a mini-game had any purpose of relating to our government. The benefits of cards are now unquestionable as The North Pacific is seen as the leader in Cards interregionally with many new WAs and citizens brought it as a result of these efforts.
Similarly to cards, I plan to bring more nations to TNP and to the forum through having the Ministry of Culture organize and promote social deduction games. These games are political and social fitting the interests of many in NS. Additionally, I know that these activities are of interest as I have previously been a member of both forums and Discord servers dedicated solely to these servers. I am confident that due to TNP’s other activities, we can be successful; additionally, this would provide more activity on the forum at a time in NS when many regions are foregoing forums at all. Much like cards, we can then use social deduction games as a way to encourage nations to join the forum and a way for new nations joining the forum to immediately get involved.
Some of you may have played these social deduction games before either in Real Life, in NS, or elsewhere in the Internet. Relatively common social deduction games you may have heard of are Werewolves, Secret Hitler, and Resistance. Other ones that I would be interested in bringing to TNP are Assassins in the Palace, Mafia, and Detectives.
Similarly to cards, I plan to bring more nations to TNP and to the forum through having the Ministry of Culture organize and promote social deduction games. These games are political and social fitting the interests of many in NS. Additionally, I know that these activities are of interest as I have previously been a member of both forums and Discord servers dedicated solely to these servers. I am confident that due to TNP’s other activities, we can be successful; additionally, this would provide more activity on the forum at a time in NS when many regions are foregoing forums at all. Much like cards, we can then use social deduction games as a way to encourage nations to join the forum and a way for new nations joining the forum to immediately get involved.
Some of you may have played these social deduction games before either in Real Life, in NS, or elsewhere in the Internet. Relatively common social deduction games you may have heard of are Werewolves, Secret Hitler, and Resistance. Other ones that I would be interested in bringing to TNP are Assassins in the Palace, Mafia, and Detectives.
The impact of the Cards Guild with only a couple weeks of existence was phenomenal. The Cards Guild has now existed for over a full term and continues to grow and be a vibrant part of TNP’s community while at the same time providing many benefits. This is a large part due to the amazing effort we have seen the community come together to create. r3n has farmed an immense amount of legendaries (and other cards) for us to use in our programs, additionally, Racoda runs puppets as well to be donated to the government. DGES is an incredible writer and has produced a ton of content for us (eg. the Guide). 9003 has broken new ground in writing the first commendation related to Cards which was supported by the Guild (the first cards resolution goes to another Guild member and prolific SC author, Bormiar). There are of course many others who contribute through helping those new to the cards game or donating cards for pull events (Bormiar, and Rom). The Cards Guild is just getting started. I have more ideas for the Guild which we will continue to release in the term. Given the interest of other regions in copying our success, I will not go into specifics. 
The Ministry of Home Affairs is vital for getting new members into the region and helping them integrate. I would like to commend the current team for doing such a great job in dealing with all of the new nations coming in from Youtube. The reason TNP is the largest region, has the most endorsements, and the most citizens is in large part from their hard work.
This work will undoubtedly continue on should I serve as Delegate. One of the biggest issues with HA is that there is a lot of work which needs to be done, players risk burning out. In order to incentivize new players to join the Ministry and spread out the workload, we will use cards.
I would like to emphasize for more posts to be made on welcoming new players who create their own threads in The Docks. Joining such a big community can be intimidating and turn members away, posting in welcome threads will help to alay fears.
A new program I would like to create would be a format for players to bring ideas that they have for the region to the Home Affairs and where appropriate, the Ministry would help players realize their ideas and provide resources to help them. This will help to bring in more staff to the Ministry and to help integrate new members to the region by providing a clear avenue for them to provide ideas.
This work will undoubtedly continue on should I serve as Delegate. One of the biggest issues with HA is that there is a lot of work which needs to be done, players risk burning out. In order to incentivize new players to join the Ministry and spread out the workload, we will use cards.
I would like to emphasize for more posts to be made on welcoming new players who create their own threads in The Docks. Joining such a big community can be intimidating and turn members away, posting in welcome threads will help to alay fears.
A new program I would like to create would be a format for players to bring ideas that they have for the region to the Home Affairs and where appropriate, the Ministry would help players realize their ideas and provide resources to help them. This will help to bring in more staff to the Ministry and to help integrate new members to the region by providing a clear avenue for them to provide ideas.
The Gameside Advocates (of which I have served as) are another important part of integration and in ensuring that there is a safe, friendly environment on the RMB. As Delegate, I would return with AMAs on government officials (other branches would be invited) properly spaced out to ensure they are not happening too often. Additionally, I would refrain from having AMAs with someone who has just had one. Other activities to increase engagement would be having more polls and looking at other gameside activities to have (eg. Cards against Nationstates).
I plan to leave the operational running to the current staff of the North Pacific Army (NPA)—since I joined TNP, I have seen tremendous growth in the organization. This is largely due to Gladio’s efforts and subsequent Ministers of Defence building onto the foundation laid. I may have been a former officer but it has been a while since I was a member (got to get that legendary status!). It is clear that the NPA is well-trained, sizable and active.
I will increase the size of the NPA even further through aggressive promotion. This will be done through two different methods. First, to recruit nations who are hesitant to fully commit to joining the NPA, we would host “open houses” where nations would be able to join a simple operation with the NPA in order to explore what this whole military thing is about. After experiencing the thrill of the NPA, nations will want to sign up to join us on the forums.
As mentioned subsequently, the NPA will also produce “raid reports” (themed reports of what the military did) in conjunction with the Ministry of Communications to advertise through dispatches and the NS forums.
Together, these measures will take the NPA to even greater heights!
I will increase the size of the NPA even further through aggressive promotion. This will be done through two different methods. First, to recruit nations who are hesitant to fully commit to joining the NPA, we would host “open houses” where nations would be able to join a simple operation with the NPA in order to explore what this whole military thing is about. After experiencing the thrill of the NPA, nations will want to sign up to join us on the forums.
As mentioned subsequently, the NPA will also produce “raid reports” (themed reports of what the military did) in conjunction with the Ministry of Communications to advertise through dispatches and the NS forums.
Together, these measures will take the NPA to even greater heights!
Communications is a Ministry which has struggled over the past years. When I first joined, it was notable for the Ministry to put out even one publication! Fortunately over the years, this is no longer the case and the Ministry now puts out several publications in large thanks to El Fiji Grande. However, over the past while The North Star (TNS) has been able to be regularly published—albeit with delays—The Northern Lights has suffered in frequency. The Northern Lights is our premium publication—the contents can be used to both recruit nations to the region and advance our foreign policy in NS. Additionally, Fiji’s changes to the publication (eg. amazing graphics) have increased the quality of TNL which we want to maintain.
For Communications, I propose a rethink of what we publish. We need to focus specifically on turning out TNL’s higher quality publication. Parts of TNS are summaries of events which already happened and collating the information distracts from the creation of TNL which will be our focus. As Delegate, I would focus on returning to monthly publications of TNL.
Communications will also work on creating updates exclusively around the NPA to be published in dispatches and on the NS forums to bring more attention to the NPA and more recruits to our army. This will also serve to get new players to join Communications—raid reports are fun to write!
For Communications, I propose a rethink of what we publish. We need to focus specifically on turning out TNL’s higher quality publication. Parts of TNS are summaries of events which already happened and collating the information distracts from the creation of TNL which will be our focus. As Delegate, I would focus on returning to monthly publications of TNL.
Communications will also work on creating updates exclusively around the NPA to be published in dispatches and on the NS forums to bring more attention to the NPA and more recruits to our army. This will also serve to get new players to join Communications—raid reports are fun to write!
The core function of the Ministry continues to go smoothly—IFVs are regularly being sent out. This means that we can now take our World Assembly program in new directions.
McMasterdonia has taken the right steps in laying the foundation to ensuring the Heroes of the North are recognized. We will continue to work towards having the Security Council reward current or former TNPers who have made exemplary achievements. Given my experience in the Security Council—a resolution I co-authored commending a TNP citizen is currently at vote—by the end of the term I aim for the government to have had two of our proposals pass. I plan to have one person lead each resolution to smooth out the process and make it clear who should be accomplishing what.
In the General Assembly, I will create a vibrant community of domestic authors. There are already a number of authors within the region and I aim to expand that further. The Ministry will maintain a list of potential resolutions for new authors to work with. Each topic will have an assigned mentor who has passed a GA resolution for the interested party to work with as either the author and/or co-author. I would hope to work with the WALL regions for this as a joint initiative sharing our pool of GA authors and letting our collective citizenry benefit.
It is imperative that the Delegate votes according to the forum vote the overwhelming majority of the time to incentivize those wanting a greater say in the WA to come join us. My policy will be to always vote according to the forum vote. The timing of resolutions going to vote is quite favourable for me. I anticipate being able to vote within the first hour thus maximizing our region's influence in votes.
McMasterdonia has taken the right steps in laying the foundation to ensuring the Heroes of the North are recognized. We will continue to work towards having the Security Council reward current or former TNPers who have made exemplary achievements. Given my experience in the Security Council—a resolution I co-authored commending a TNP citizen is currently at vote—by the end of the term I aim for the government to have had two of our proposals pass. I plan to have one person lead each resolution to smooth out the process and make it clear who should be accomplishing what.
In the General Assembly, I will create a vibrant community of domestic authors. There are already a number of authors within the region and I aim to expand that further. The Ministry will maintain a list of potential resolutions for new authors to work with. Each topic will have an assigned mentor who has passed a GA resolution for the interested party to work with as either the author and/or co-author. I would hope to work with the WALL regions for this as a joint initiative sharing our pool of GA authors and letting our collective citizenry benefit.
It is imperative that the Delegate votes according to the forum vote the overwhelming majority of the time to incentivize those wanting a greater say in the WA to come join us. My policy will be to always vote according to the forum vote. The timing of resolutions going to vote is quite favourable for me. I anticipate being able to vote within the first hour thus maximizing our region's influence in votes.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be a difficult place for nations to get accustomed to. There are a lot of other regions and history out there. Previously, when I was Minister of Foreign Affairs, I regularly briefed our Foreign Affairs staff on the goings on in NS. This will resume as it is vital to ensure that the Foreign Affairs staff (who are potentially successors to the Minister) remains informed of the goings on in NationStates. Additionally, what happens in one region affects what happens in another region and this will help inform Ambassadors of how their assigned region may be reacting. I would like to explore having ambassadors then be updating the World Factbook with relevant information on their region in relation to updates on interregional affairs by the Foreign Affairs Leadership.
I will also be going one step forward from previous methods on informing the region. McMasterdonia’s comprehensive briefings to the Regional Assembly are important to ensure the region is informed of international affairs. I will ensure the Regional Assembly is regularly updated on international affairs of relevance to The North Pacific and the government’s position on them. This will lead to a more informed and critical electorate on the region’s position in NationStates.
I will also be going one step forward from previous methods on informing the region. McMasterdonia’s comprehensive briefings to the Regional Assembly are important to ensure the region is informed of international affairs. I will ensure the Regional Assembly is regularly updated on international affairs of relevance to The North Pacific and the government’s position on them. This will lead to a more informed and critical electorate on the region’s position in NationStates.
The newest Ministry to join the region, the NBS has seen over its entire lifetime swings in activity. To broaden its base and work on ensuring there is a sustainable talent pool, the Ministry of Radio will host casual VCs—not for recording—for members to join in and participate. Where possible, we will theme them around certain events (Chatting and Card Pulling, A Fireside Chat with The Delegate, etc.) in order to further build the community. This will attract players who are not keen on having their voice publicly broadcast yet increase engagement in voice chats overall.
There is a lack of advertisement of radio broadcasts on the forum—people may disable their pings on Discord and miss new broadcasts or not be on Discord at all. We will restart posting broadcasts on the forum to increase visibility (and chances of recruiting players to join our broadcasts). I also enjoyed having questions to interact with in the thread so we will do that as well.
There is a lack of advertisement of radio broadcasts on the forum—people may disable their pings on Discord and miss new broadcasts or not be on Discord at all. We will restart posting broadcasts on the forum to increase visibility (and chances of recruiting players to join our broadcasts). I also enjoyed having questions to interact with in the thread so we will do that as well.
I have included a handy little list below of what are the main goals for what the government should accomplish in the term and what I would use to measure the success of the government by:
Administration: Have all Executive Staff applications accepted within three days.
Transparency: Appropriately release all logs which have yet to be released and are legally obligated to be. Provide a weekly update to the region on the events in the region.
Ministry of Culture: Hold eight social deduction games and three different types.
Cards Guild: Create four new programs for the Cards Guild.
Ministry of Home Affairs: Incentivize new members to join through Cards. Create a program to help players realize their ideas for the community.
Gameside Advocates: Hold at least six AMAs. Average one poll a week.
Ministry of Defence: Hold two open house events.
Ministry of Defence & Communications: Publish eight raid reports.
Ministry of Communications: Release four TNLs.
Ministry of World Assembly Affairs: Work with citizens (or citizens of WALL) to pass four General Assembly resolutions. Have two resolutions pass recognizing TNPers.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Weekly updates to the Ambassador Corps and monthly updates to the Regional Assembly on the goings on in NationStates.
Ministry of Radio: Hold a total of four casual VC events. Have a forum thread for each radio publication with discussion questions.
Lastly, should you choose to support me for Delegate, please find enclosed some buttons to wear in your sig/avatar (thanks to @Nimarya!):
I would be glad to accept any questions as to my platform, policies, and whatnot.
Last edited:
